It's an Inductance Coil. I'm not an expert but I believe they change and shape current and voltage, you put one current/ voltage in and another comes out.

Certainly a very old electronic component...

I tried to look this up on Wikipedia, but although I understand the individual words used, the overall meaning of the description is beyond my understanding...!

Is it a transformer?

They make sparks, to put it simply. It was originally just an electrical experiment. Now the most common use for them is probably producing sparks in gasoline engines.

They were also used for medical therapy and led to the invention of the radio.